What does it take to be a successful event manager/celebrity publicist?

Jalal Salahuddin: Firstly, creativity, coupled with an incredible amount of energy and drive, a people friendly and outgoing attitude, out-of-the-box thinking and an ability to delegate and be a team leader. I would also add the ability to stay calm is important but this mostly bypasses me!

Ammara Hikmat: It takes a lot of adrenalin from your and the client’s end. You have to be excited about your work and the client has to share the same energy and keep realistic expectations. A client plays a bigger role in getting positive acclaim than you do.

Najaf Naad e Ali: This is a tough one! Well, you must have excellent PR skills, a super creative brain, time management skills, an ability to take pressure, communication skills and, no less importantly, a very supportive family/spouse/partner, as event management is not everyone’s piece of cake.

Imtisal Zafar: Perseverance and persistence. You have to believe in yourself, learn, improve and evolve along the way and then keep it up, no matter what. Event management is a highly stressful business; in fact, the sixth most stressful job in the world according to a study. Therefore a successful event manager, in addition to having a good aesthetic sense, vision and PR skills, needs to have good problem solving skills and patience.

Is formal education in Event Management/PR a better way to launch oneself in this field?

Jalal Salahuddin: I have a degree in Economics and International Relations so I particularly don’t think so. When we started there was no event management and we learnt as we sent along. So the answer is NO.

Ammara Hikmat: Formal training is definitely important in any field and despite on-the-job training I still study a lot of world literature on PR. Just like by studying Journalism not everyone can become a good journalist, formal education in Marketing/PR will not guarantee a great career in the field. At the end of the day, to effectively project your client in local media you have to find local market relevant solutions and not follow any turn-scandal-into-opportunity tactics from books. It took me six months to realise that no matter how many press releases you translate in Urdu and fax/email the ones that get published by the Urdu press are your phone pitches.

Najaf Naad e Ali: I’m not a firm believer in formally studying Event Management in school; I’ve a degree in HR and I believe I’m doing very well in my career.

Arsalan Ahmad Khan: Neither myself nor Imtisal are formally educated in this field. Event management is a very hands-on education; you learn a lot as you go along. No amount of text book reading can prepare you for what happens on the field or the local working conditions.

Your biggest success so far, and why?

Jalal Salahuddin: A special one that comes to mind is when we did the Bryan Adams Concert in Karachi which was attended by 14,000 people. This was special because there was so much excitement about him coming to Pakistan and it is to date the only international concert of its kind and size to have taken place in Pakistan.

Ammara Hikmat: It has to be the Fashion Parade, a small exclusive fashion show in the heart of Mayfair showcasing some of the best fashion designers from Pakistan to the elite UK business and media community. An event for only 100 people but we got mainstream press coverage in five countries.

Najaf Naad e Ali: The Skyfall James Bond 007 event in Arena, Islamabad, as we got to work with Nicky Larson, a French model, and our lifesize gun barrel was a super hit. This was our thematic cum dramatic movie premiere.

Arsalan Ahmad Khan & Imtisal Zafar: A concert for over 2,000 people of the Romanian band Akcent for the first time in Lahore. That really put us on the map as a company.

Last-minute disaster you managed to escape at an event?

Jalal Salahuddin: Many can happen but surely when artists show up late to events or technical issues prevail and require quick thinking to get fixed. Nonetheless, the key is to be calm and cool and sort through these issues as best you can.

Ammara Hikmat: At a movie premiere two years ago, which was at a local cinema, a reporter who had some personal issue with a red carpet host raised hell at giving preferential treatment to the channel hosting it. The rest of them just fashionably protested. They also insisted on taking cameras inside the cinema hall so it all could have turned into a PR disaster but a small, take-a-deep-breath-and-relax speech saved the day.

Najaf Naad e Ali: Last minute escape is a common practice. Perseverance, diligence and earnestness come in handy here.

Arsalan Ahmad Khan: This one event in Faisalabad was set up under a canopy and when everything was ready, two hours before the event it started pouring down and made the canopy to drip. Everything got wet and the show was about to start. It took a lot of manpower to get the water out and things to be replaced and dried up. That was definitely a close call!

Has Event Management become more challenging with time, or is it the other way round?

Jalal Salahuddin: Yes, it has, as there are many more players out there and clients have become more demanding and have greater choices before them. A lot of them aren’t sure what they want. But this has also made event management into a real career choice and a very exciting one. We now provide jobs to hundreds of people at any given time be it a waiter or a cook from our catering company Zaffron or someone who provides desi flowers for a wedding or even a valet.

Ammara Hikmat: I think with the shift of power from traditional press to online, it has become easily penetrable for any talented person.

Najaf Naad e Ali: Advancement in technology has definitely improved event management industry. Quicker manufacturing of customised decors for our clients, communication with our international clients, SMD/LED lights etc are only possible thanks to the new technology.

Imtisal Zafar: Some things such as security have improved with time as opposed to when we started out; the events would often get cancelled. In other terms like recession, things have become much tougher. Companies don’t want to spend as they used to pre-2007. So, that really limits the scope of a project. There’s more competition now in the field which is great because it helps you evaluate yourself and keep on improving

How does cyber space come in handy?

Jalal Salahuddin: Well, bloggers and attendees give us a lot of coverage when they post pictures, videos, comments and articles about or events and activations online. Also, it’ a great place to advertise brand related work and event private work as it reaches the correct target audience at lightening speed.

Ammara Hikmat: It has made work so much easier; your Twitter/Facebook is the most effective broadcasting tool these days. From announcements to pitches, everything is just a post away.

Najaf Naad e Ali: We have a very strong social media presence. We also provide social media management services to our clients.

Imtisal Zafar: Internet is an extremely essential tool in the world of event management and PR. Aside from being wired through email 24/7, the social media networks have revolutionised people’s connectivity and marketing. It is crucial for all launching products/brands to have online presence.